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Politics, life and baseball

Departing Commissioner Jim Archer finds many similarities between the game and his work.

By NORA KOCH
Published March 13, 2005

TARPON SPRINGS - For Jim Archer, life and politics are like a baseball game.

This Tuesday he will be at the top of a new inning after finishing his second term on the City Commission. Term limits forced Archer, 72, to step down after six years in office.

The vice mayor and former starting pitcher for the Kansas City Athletics will vacate the seat for political rookie Robin Saenger, who won last week's election by a 29-vote margin.

As his term comes to a close, Archer said he is a bit nostalgic and full of fond memories.

"It's like a baseball team," Archer said of working on the five-member board. "If you don't have the team spirit and camaraderie, you don't get anything done."

And his baseball analogies go on and on.

In January, the City Commission took a controversial vote on whether to approve a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the Anclote River. The proposal passed, 3-2. Archer, who voted for the project, said he would have preferred to see a different type of business on the site but that the decision came down to property rights.

He compared the Wal-Mart decision to standing on the pitcher's mound with the bases loaded, facing a batter with a count of three balls and two strikes. Even if the pitcher doesn't want to throw the ball under those conditions, he must, Archer said.

"And when the ball leaves your hand, you have to depend on the people around you," said the father of two grown sons.

Born on a Virginia farm to a coal miner and a school cafeteria cook, Archer was recruited into the minor leagues right out of high school. He was paid a $1,000 signing bonus and spent more than a decade playing on farm teams around the country and in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Colombia before he was drafted by the Army in 1952. After basic training, he was asked to play on the Army's baseball team.

Two years in the service added 55 pounds of muscle and a few inches to Archer's frame, and he returned to the minor leagues. He went to spring training with the Baltimore Orioles but didn't make the team and was traded to the Kansas City Athletics in the early 1960s.

A left-hander, he started for the Athletics in 1961 and 1962 and posted a 9-15 record. Tendinitis in his shoulder got the best of him, and he retired after 15 years of professional baseball.

He decided to go to the west coast of Florida, where he had some family and remembered good times from spring training visits. Archer started out in the insurance business and soon began selling cars. He met his wife, Becky, at Pappas' Restaurant and married in 1969.

In 1988 Archer started working for Karl Flammer Ford, where he still does part-time sales in the fleet department.

Archer is a storyteller and a people person, assets that make him a top-notch car salesman and a good leader, said Jim Flammer, general manager and son of Karl. As an employee, he is "as loyal, honest and committed to building relationships as anybody around," Flammer said.

As a commissioner, Archer was aware that he had a responsibility to the city staff as well as the community, Flammer said. And he was aware of the reality of his political position, Flammer said.

"Jim always shared that the worst thing he could do would be to issue an opinion or tell somebody how something should be done, because he's only one voice on a committee," Flammer said.

On the commission, that translated into a practice of keeping a low profile and avoiding controversy.

For his genial approach, Archer gained respect from his fellow commissioners, Commissioner Davie Archie said.

At meetings the two would jokingly refer to each other as "cousins."

"People always mixed up our stuff all the time," Archie said. "They would call me David Archer ... now I call him Cousin Jim and his wife Cousin Becky."

As a commissioner, Archer wore a business suit to every meeting and was a model of decorum, Archie said.

"Only on a few occasions would Jim be riled," said Archie, noting that when he was feeling emotional about an issue, he would seek inspiration in Archer's calm. "And if you riled him up, he would say what he had to say, but most of the time, Jim was very diplomatic and very careful."

After Tuesday, Archer said, he isn't sure if he'll be back behind the dais in City Hall. He will be eligible to run again in 2007.

"If I think there are too many politicians swinging too many bats," he said, "I might grab a glove and join in."

Nora Koch can be reached at 727 771-4304 or nkoch@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 13, 2005, 00:22:15]